1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an improved type of beverage chiller and method therefore, and, more specifically, to an improved beverage chiller and method therefore that can be rapidly coupled to or decoupled from a beverage container in a manner that isolates the cooling medium, generally ice, from the beverage itself thus preserving the integrity of the quality of the fluid while at the same time accomplishing the chilling of the beverage.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, the preference for comsumption of most beverages was while the beverage remained cold and, it was generally the custom, in order to accomplish this, that people would usually deposit ice cubes in their beverage. The ice was scooped into the beverage container and readily placed inside the container containing the beverage at the bottom portion of this container. The problems with this practice are many, the ice cools the beverage by absorbing the heat at the same time that it melts changing from a solid to a liquid phase, thus diluting the beverage. This diluted portion tends to remain near the top of the fluid while the undiluted portion sinks to the bottom, thus changing the flavor of the beverage as well as affecting the quality or consistency of the drink from top to bottom.
This problem of chilling a beverage directly with ice which diluted the beverage is not new, has been with us for some time and until this invention there has not had a satisfactory solution thereof. A solution to this problem is especially needed in a commercial beverage dispensing type setting where it is desirable to preserve the integrity of the flavor and composition of the beverage as well as being able to reuse the same chilling medium as soon as possible.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,189 issued in 1985 to Marshall used a plastic container which had a phase-change medium, such as water that had to be frozen in the container prior to placing the container in a beverage and, as it consumed heat from the beverage, the phase-change medium liquified but it remained confined to the container. The key disadvantage with this prior art beverage chiller device was that before it could be used again it needed to be frozen to form ice within the container The re-freezing process was slow and time consuming and therefore a problem for commercial settings where immediate use, time after time, of a beverage chiller was needed.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,731,539 issued to Pearson discloses a milk chilling device where as ice melts, the gas escapes through a small hole or vent for the purpose of using the gas from the melting ice as a means for cooling the sides of the receptacle.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,021,368 issued to Louis discloses a beverage delivering apparatus where a cooling tube is subdivided into a plurality of individual interconnected cooling ball shaped members of such a size that a number thereof are first placed in the freezing chamber of the refrigerating machine. These hollow metallic balls are filled up to about half their volume with water which then freezes in the freezing chamber. These frozen balls were interconnected by chains and loaded into another container for use in a larger container. The major disadvantage of this complex ball type arrangement was the requirement for re-freezing which was time consuming.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,003,324 issued to Vance et al. discloses container arrangements for beverages. A large container was divided into compartments separated by heat conducting material. One of the compartments is filled with the beverage or other product while the other compartment is further divided into separate chambers containing chemicals which, when mixed, react to either produce or absorb heat and thus either heat or cool the product. This prior art technique for cooling a beverage was complex, expensive and time consuming.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,059,452 issued to Griffin discloses a cooling device for picnic jugs which uses a smaller container that has a fluid therein that, together with the smaller container, is frozen prior to use in a picnic jug. This was also impractical since refreezing of the smaller container was needed prior to use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,632 issued to Marchewka et al. also disclosed a beverage cooling device that required the freezing, before use, of a semi-flexible plastic container that was used to cool the beverage. This was also impractical for commercial type needs where beverage chilling speed was required.
The present invention eliminates most of the deficiencies in the prior art and provides an improved apparatus and method to chill beverages.